Wichita City Council members and Sedgwick County Commissioners have been involved in discussions over the past decade on returning passenger rail service to south central Kansas, but they have now declared formal support for an expansion of Amtrak service.
Sedgwick County Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution of support Wednesday for the extension of Amtrak services. The Wichita City Council approved a similar resolution last week.
The city has not had direct access to passenger service since 1979. In recent years, Wichita residents have had to travel to Newton or Hutchinson to access Amtrak services. Amtrak has been studying an expansion of the Heartland Flyer route from Oklahoma City to Wichita and Newton, to connect to the Southwest Chief service that runs through southwest Kansas. The expansion is estimated to add 100,000 to 200,000 passengers a year. The expansion would also connect to other Amtrak routes west to Los Angeles and east to Kansas City and Chicago.
Amtrak has developed a plan to expand rail service across the country, with the help of federal transportation and infrastructure funding. County Commission Chairman Pete Meitzner said Amtrak will have 160 projects in its plan to expand services over the next decade. He said the local effort is to make sure that south central Kansas is included in the top five or ten projects on the list. Meitzner said Amtrak plans to fully fund the expansion, which would take the financial burden away from Wichita, Sedgwick County and the state of Kansas.
Citizens are urged to voice their support for Amtrak expansion by going to the web site https://www.amtrakconnectsus.com/take-action/
